The majority of the money raised by the anti-Trump Lincoln Project went to companies run by the group’s founders.
“It raises questions about where the rest of the money ultimately went,” said Brendan Fischer with the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center in Washington. “Generally speaking, you’d expect to see a major super PAC spend a majority or more of their money on advertisements, and that’s not what happened here.”
Records show that only about one-third, $27 million, of the money raised by the super PAC went to TV and online advertisements during the 2020 election cycle.
The majority of the PAC’s funds were split by consulting companies controlled by the group’s leadership, including $27 million paid to a firm run by Reed Galen and $21 million to a firm run by Ron Steslow, a former Lincoln Project member.
The report comes as the group deals with the fallout surrounding co-founder John Weaver, who faces allegations of sexual harassment involving young men on the internet and at least two Lincoln Project employees.
The Lincoln Project announced last week that it had retained outside counsel to review Weaver’s tenure “to establish both accountability and best practices going forward for the Lincoln Project.”
Now the group that rose to prominence opposing the tenure of former President Donald Trump faces questions about how it spends its donations, including millions of dollars being used for production costs and large consulting fees charged by the organization’s members.
But Steve Schmidt, one of the group’s co-founders, insisted that the super PAC has always complied with the law.
“We fully comply with the law,” Schmidt said. “The Lincoln Project will be delighted to open its books for audit immediately after the Trump campaign and all affiliated super PACs do so, explaining the cash flow of the nearly $700 million that flowed through their organizations controlled by Brad Parscale and Jared Kushner.”
Schmidt later stepped down from the group’s board as the scandals continued to mount for the organization.
The Lincoln Project did not immediately respond to the Washington Examiner’s request for comment.
